Writing to Change the World

It was only after I began reading Mary Pipher's Writing to Change the World that I realized another of her books, Reviving Ophelia, had been sitting on my shelf for years, anxiously waiting to be visited. Pipher got me so inspired and fired up with Writing to Change the World that I won't waste any time getting around to Ophelia, or any of her other books, now. But on with the true subject of this review, Writing to Change the World.

Even if you aren't considering writing to change the world, Pipher's book is a veritable bounty of inspiration for making the world a better place. From the plethora of affecting quotations contained therein to her contemplation on what each of us can offer to the world in unique and unrepeatable ways, Pipher makes a case that we all have particular voices and deeply felt causes about which we can make change. If you're a passionate writer, she inspires you to put that voice to paper and make your one-of-a-kind perspective known. If not, her words still encourage challenging the status quo and thinking about how to leave the world in which we live a better place. A psychologist by training, Pipher offers content that can be applied beyond the written world to improve readers' relationships, careers, states of mind, and general levels of motivation.

At times the book's inspirational ways verge a little too cheesy for my tastes. But I do think that anyone with true intentions of changing the world requires a touch of the sentimental if they have any hope of making their dreams into a reality. If nothing else, Pipher encourages readers to challenge their patterned modes of thinking and writing, to dream big, and to allow individual personalities and passions to fuel great the sharing of great thought.

For bloggers and writers with a passion for doing good, social justice, and big change, Pipher's Writing to Change the World is definitely worth a look. And I can personally attest to this book's inspirational qualities as I've been doing a whole lot more writing in my spare time after I started reading. Pipher's writing gave me an increased sense of confidence in my own. Writing to Change the World helped me realize that I have a lot of valid things to say, things that I sometimes worry are too obvious, inconsequential, or common. But exercising my writing muscles will only help to clarify the unique messages that I have to share and to improve my talent and aptitude in sharing them.